One in 6 close contacts not being reached by test and trace regime in Buckinghamshire

Data from the Department for Health and Social care shows 22,198 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Buckinghamshire were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and January 13.

That means 3,238 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period.

Contact tracers ask new patients to give details for anyone they were in close contact with in the 48 hours before their symptoms started.

This led to 47,142 close contacts being identified over the period – those not managed by local health protection teams, which are dealt with through a call centre or online.

But 83.7% of those were reached, meaning 7,661 people were not contacted or did not respond.

That was up from the 82.3% reached in the period to January 6

Across England, 92.8% of contacts not managed by local health protection teams were reached and told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace in the latest week to January 13.

Local health protection teams deal with cases linked to settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons.

The contact tracing rate including these cases was 92.9%, up from 92.7% the week before.

Around 352,000 new cases were transferred nationally in the week to January 13.